Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children v. Zrillic

• Citation: 563 So.2d 64
• Decision Date: 31 May 1990
• Docket Number: 73640,Nos. 73639,s. 73639
• Parties: 15 Fla. L. Weekly S316 SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN, Petitioner, v. Lorraine E. ZRILLIC, Respondent. ESTATE OF Lorraine E. ROMANS, Petitioner, v. Lorraine E. ZRILLIC, Respondent.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida

Page 64

563 So.2d 64

15 Fla. L. Weekly S316

SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN, Petitioner, v. Lorraine E. ZRILLIC, Respondent.

ESTATE OF Lorraine E. ROMANS, Petitioner, v. Lorraine E. ZRILLIC, Respondent.

Nos. 73639, 73640.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 31, 1990.

William S. Belcher of Belcher & Fleece, P.A., and Joseph W. Fleece, III, St. Petersburg, for Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children.

Lawrence E. Dolan of Lawrence E. Dolan, P.A., Orlando, for Estate of Lorraine E. Romans.

Peggy Tribbett Gehl and Linda Chambliss, Ft. Lauderdale, and Joseph C. Jacobs of Ervin, Varn, Jacobs, Odom & Ervin, Tallahassee, for Lorraine E. Zrillic.

BARKETT, Justice.

We have consolidated for review two cases that arose out of Zrillic v. Estate of Romans, 535 So.2d 294 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988). One presents an issue concerning the district court's express declaration of validity of section 732.803 of the Florida Statutes (1985), which pertains to charitable devises. ¹ The other alleges an express and direct conflict with Hooper v. Stokes, 107 Fla. 607, 145 So. 855 (1933); Milam v. Davis, 97 Fla. 916, 123 So. 668, cert. denied, 280 U.S. 601, 50 S.Ct. 82, 74 L.Ed. 646 (1929), and In re Estate of Herman, 427 So.2d 195 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). ²

I.

Lorraine E. Romans, a resident of Seminole County, Florida, executed her Last Will and Testament on May 5, 1986. After suffering from a lingering illness, she died on July 19, 1986, survived by her daughter, Lorraine E. Zrillic. The testator's will, admitted to probate on December 19, 1986, included the following provisions:

EIGHTH: I give and bequeath several sealed boxes of family antique dishes and figurines specifically designated, to my daughter, LORRAINE E. ZRILLIC, 16531 Blatt Blvd., No. 204, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I have intentionally limited her inheritance since I have contributed substantially during my life for her education and subsequent monies I have been required to expend primarily due to her promiscuous type of life. My daughter, LORRAINE E. ZRILLIC has not shown or indicated the slightest affection or gratitude to me for at least five years preceeding [sic] the date of this Will. My executor will know the appraised value of these antiques for estate tax purposes....

....

ELEVENTH: All the rest residue and remainder of my estate, of whatever nature and wherever situated of which I may be siezed [sic] or possessed or to which I may be entitled at the time of my death, including lapsed legacies and any property over which I have a power of appointment I give, devise and bequeath as a charitable donation to the SHRINERS HOSPITAL[S] for CRIPPLED CHILDREN....

Pursuant to section 732.803, ³ Zrillic timely requested the circuit court to issue an order avoiding the charitable devise. Timely responses were filed by: Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children (petitioner in No. 73,639); and James G. Lloyd, James C. Erdman, and Betty C. Merrick, as copersonal representatives of the Estate of Lorraine E. Romans (petitioners in No. 73,640). Copetitioners filed the same two affirmative defenses in the circuit court, alleging that: (1) Zrillic lacked standing to avoid the charitable devise because she was expressly disinherited; and (2) section 732.803 violated the equal protection provisions of the constitutions of the United States and the state of Florida.

The circuit court ruled that Zrillic did have standing, but that section 732.803 was unconstitutional. Zrillic appealed the circuit court's decision as to the constitutionality of the statute, and the copersonal representatives of the Estate of Romans cross-appealed on the issue of standing.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed in part and reversed in part, finding that Zrillic had standing, but that section 732.803 did not violate either constitution. 535 So.2d 294. Both Shriners Hospitals and the copersonal representatives of the Estate of Romans petitioned this Court to review that decision.

We are presented with two issues. The threshold question is whether a lineal descendant, whose legacy was expressly limited by the decedent's will, had standing to set aside a charitable devise in that will. The second question concerns the constitutionality of section 732.803.

II.

Zrillic had to satisfy two elements to meet the standing requirement of section 732.803. First, Zrillic had to be a lineal descendent of the testator. That fact was admitted. Second, Zrillic had to be eligible to receive an interest in the devise, if avoided. Copersonal representatives of the Estate of Romans argue that Zrillic would not have been able to take an interest if the charitable devise was avoided because the testator intended Zrillic not to share in the estate beyond the express terms of the will.

The general rule of construction is that the intent of the testator prevails. § 732.6005(1), Fla.Stat. (1985). However, allowing the testator's intent to control construction of section 732.803 would defeat both the plain meaning and the logic of the statute. See Ruppert v. Estate of Hastings, 311 So.2d 810, 811 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975) (construing predecessor statute). Section 732.803 would serve no purpose if Zrillic is denied standing because the statute's only logical use is to give standing to one who otherwise would be deprived of a legacy. Any other conclusion would have the practical effect of denying everybody the right to contest such a will. Clearly the legislature must have intended the general rule of construction in section 732.6005(1) to give way to the specific, contrary purpose of section 732.803. See, e.g., Adams v. Culver, 111 So.2d 665, 667 (Fla.1959) ("It is a well settled rule of statutory construction ... that a special statute covering a particular subject matter is controlling over a general statutory provision covering the same and other subjects in general terms."). Thus, we agree with the district court that Zrillic had standing to petition to avoid the devise. We disapprove In re Estate of Herman to the extent that its reasoning conflicts with this analysis, but we find no conflict with Hooper v. Stokes and Milam v. Davis, which are wholly distinguishable.

Now we move on to discuss the constitutionality of section 732.803. First, we address whether the section imposes an unreasonable restriction on a property owner's right to dispose of property by will. Then we analyze the equal protection claim.

III.

Property rights are protected by article I, section 2 of the Florida Constitution:

SECTION 2. Basic rights.--All natural persons are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property; except that the ownership, inheritance, disposition and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship may be regulated or prohibited by law. No person shall be deprived of any right because of race, religion or physical handicap.

(Emphasis added.) These property rights are woven into the fabric of Florida history. See Declaration of Rights, §§ 1, 18, Fla. Const. (1885) (as amended prior to the 1968 revision); Declaration of Rights, §§ 1, 17, Fla. Const. (1868); art. I, § 1, Fla. Const. (1865); art. I, § 1, Fla. Const. (1861); art. I, § 1, Fla. Const. (1838).

To interpret the extent of property rights under the constitution, we must make a common sense reading of the plain and ordinary meaning of the language to carry out the intent of the framers as applied to the context of our times. See In re Advisory Opinion to the Governor Request of June 29, 1979, 374 So.2d 959, 964 (Fla.1979). It is commonly understood that acquire means to gain, obtain, receive, or to come into possession or ownership of property, see, e.g., I The Oxford English Dictionary 115 (2d ed. 1989), and it "[i]ncludes taking by devise." Black's Law Dictionary 23 (5th ed. 1979) (emphasis supplied). Possess commonly means to have, hold, own, or control "anything which may be the subject of property, for one's own use and enjoyment, either as owner or as the proprietor of a qualified right in it." Id. at 1046-47; see also, e.g., XII The Oxford English Dictionary 171-72 (2d ed. 1989). Protect generally means to guard, preserve and keep safe from harm, encroachment, injury, alteration, damage, or loss. See, e.g., XII The Oxford English Dictionary 677-78 (2d ed. 1989); American Heritage Dictionary 995 (2d College ed. 1985). Thus, the phrase "acquire, possess and protect property" in article I, section 2, includes the incidents of property ownership: the "[c]ollection of rights to use and enjoy property, including [the] right to transmit it to others." Black's Law Dictionary 997 (5th ed. 1979) (emphasis supplied). ⁴

This common sense reading of the language in article I, section 2, leads to the conclusion that the right to devise property is a property right protected by the Florida Constitution. Our conclusion is supported by the provision's express exception for aliens ineligible for citizenship. There would be no need to carve out an exception for "ownership, inheritance, disposition and possession of real property" unless those property rights already were subsumed in the clause modified by the exception. Furthermore, by narrowly limiting the class of persons whose rights may be restricted by the legislature, i.e., aliens ineligible for citizenship, it is clear that the framers intended all other people, including testators, be free from unreasonable legislative restraint.

We are aware that some decisions in Florida and elsewhere vary from this conclusion, relying upon an old legal distinction between "property" rights and "testamentary" rights. See generally 1 W. Bowe & D. Parker, Page on the Law of Wills chs. 1-3 (rev. ed. 1960). The distinction those courts have drawn is that property rights are inalienable rights grounded in natural law, whereas freedom of testation is purely...